Farming & Commercial

Feilding Star, Volume 8, Issue 2506, 20 March 1930, Page 7

Farming & Commercial

PN THE LAND

NEWS, VIEWS AND COMMENTS Make flit) -101 b wean or pig jour objective. Don’t feed your pigs iu a haphazard manner. Put system into t.ie feeding.

Do nor- muko the ground fine on top during winter digging. Leave it rough, so that the weather can pulverise and sweeten it. Thy Kaupokonui Dairy Co., lias disposed of 10,000 crates of cheese, approximately 800 tons, :i 1 the very satisfactory figure of 8 3-8 d per lb. Do not make fun of the nest egg. It will lie noticed that the pullets take much more readily t> a nest where there is one than to tlie e-nip t,V nest. v Herd testing is becoming increasingly popular throughout the North Island, and since 1922 the number ot cowf unde- test has increased irom JT,OOO to 900,000. A cow that is. a big producer must be a big feeder and this shows in a broad, strong muzzle and a deep, ide barrel. Good digestion and assimilation are indicated by a soft, pliable skin.

A report from Buenos Aires which indicates that the drought oxperieeed last season was so severe ir. the Argentine that the export figures for the current season will probably be 30 per cent- lower than last year.

When a oow in Denmark injured its leg so badly that amputation was necessary, a professor of the Danish Agriculture College fashioned a wooden’ log for the animal, which is now able to move about with ease and apparently in good health.

Bailing of hay has made greai stdirea is South Auckland tais yea’ but every few barns have been provided in which to store the haled hay, which in too many cases is bes ing inadequately protected from the feather,^

“On my dairy farm at Hiuiitangi,' miya It. A. Wilson, of Martou, “figures show that an application of 1-5 tens of manure annually has produced an increase per annual of about 4 tons of butterfat which sells at tin present time at..about £l5O a- ton.’’

Tlie New South Wales Minister tod Agriculture is sreported as having said: “The advent of a. Marketing Board will not force any producer into a. eoo-pera-tive society but it will protect co-operators from that unfair competition which is one of the bugbears of co-operative effort- ’

The New Zealand Co-operative Dairy C*., is paying its suppliers It Id per pound for butterfat for superfine cream supplied for butlermaking in February, a.nd Is -Id per pound for butterfat o- nsuperfine milk suiiplied for ckeeseinakiug for the same perio-d-

Ncw Zealand, especially the northerly portions of its Auckland and Taranaki, is probably the most favoured country in the world for the growing -of grass, the climate—with its liberal and well distributed rainfall—being chiefly responsible, says a writer on grasslands.

Early calving was an aspect °i dairying touched an by Professor ll.'ddefc, of Massey College, during a recent visit to Gisborne. He pointed out that cows served foil- calving about mid-July would have a. longer period of full production before the pastures began to dry up, than those served later.

An old spade that has been broken in one corner, or is not of much use, can beturn-ed into a very efficient hoe. Heat the- blade across the middle, place i na vice and bend the bottom half of the blade to- a little, past the right angle, as with a drag hoe. Affix an old shovel handle- by means of Jin. screws. This tool is ideal for hoeing hard caked ground in the garden, and for mounding potatoes, etc. The great advantage is its weight.

During the past ten years the King’s herd of DR-ed Poll cattle at Sandringham has iron 171 prizes and man yspecial awards of the value of £1321. The herd now consists of 80 cows and heifers bred upon dualpudpese lines. The premier stock bull iV Witem-ay Whisperer, whose dam gave 70481bs of milk in 298 days with her first calf, and 8916-'* lbs is 365 days with a later calf. His grand-dam Finborough Flirt, gave i 1.366]1bs of milk from Ist October, 1923, to Ist October, 1924

The ltatana communal effort during the past two years in wheat growing has ben bountifully rewarded and this year the crop returned over 40 bushels pec acre. They have set an example to other farmers in the locality as t° what can. be done by enterprise. “Of course,’’ remarked a leading farmer in the. district, “if I had the same amount of labour at my disposal I could also become the John Grigg of the North Island.’’ The. late John Grigg, of Lo-ngbe-ach Estate South Canterbury, some years worked a large stretch of land between the Ashburton and Kaiigitata rivers, and grew an enormous amount of grain, being the largest shipper at that time to the Old Country. In fact, in those days it was the largest area in the world cultivated under the supervision of one man.

In the Star last week there was a paragraph about farming implements tlia-t were used by the Canterbury piouers. If Otago were searched a big collection of such things could be found in these parts. Our Early Settlers’ museum (says the Dunedin Star) is hardly the place in which to store heavy implements ’but room, lias been found for quite a number of oldtime cudiosities that in their period served primitive needs. There is the fla-jl that threshed the first crop of wheat grown on the Taieri Plain, pro seated by Mr Francis M'Dairmid. and probably’ used front about 1850. Near it is t (> be seen, one of the- hand mills which the first immigrants ground tlieir wheat. An other relic is a churn brought to Otago by James Salnland, of Milton, a passenger by the Larkins, in 18-19. It was in use for seventy years, the last t'™ 80 late as 1920. Air William Kerr Sa.lmond gave it to the museum. One more reminded of tlie pioneers is a churn that was converted to that purpose out of a harness cask on the Philip Laing . Air Andrew Watson was the fashioner of this churn, and it was presented by Air A\ iliiam Hay, of Romaliapa. These are a few examples of the 1 rea.sures to bo found in the Thomson collection at- tlie Early Settlers’ Huseurn.